How-To disable metro app switcher - Windows 8 General

If you don't use metro, there is the annoying metro app switcher (Win + tab) on the left side of the screen which shows up whenever you take the mouse to the top left corner. I have often accidently dragged in a metro app when i was trying to drag the corner window and in the same manner, I've found a fix.
To close that switcher for the current session (comes back after log off/log in or restart), right click in the top left corner and then click on close and whoosh, one less crap to deal with.
The normal switcher (alt + tab) still works great even with the metro apps if you're forced to use any.

Or you can permanently disable it from the right bar: settings/computer settings/common. The first slider from the menu is for automatic summer/winter time and the second for disabling the metro stuff. My system is not in english so I'm not sure if names are correct.

In US English, it's in Settings -> Change PC Settings (at the bottom) -> General, under a category called App Switching.

Rick_1995 said:
If you don't use metro, there is the annoying metro app switcher (Win + tab) on the left side of the screen which shows up whenever you take the mouse to the top left corner. I have often accidently dragged in a metro app when i was trying to drag the corner window and in the same manner, I've found a fix.
To close that switcher for the current session (comes back after log off/log in or restart), right click in the top left corner and then click on close and whoosh, one less crap to deal with.
The normal switcher (alt + tab) still works great even with the metro apps if you're forced to use any.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually you just described closing the most recently used app; if you haven't started any apps, nothing should pop up after login/restart.

Related

Putting PPC (Harrier & iMate) app on Treo 700wx Issues

Hi,
I have an application which has been running nicely on Harrier and iMate devices, well any PPC devices really because of their rectangular screen shape.
My client has gone and bought some Palm Treo 700wx devices, and they have a smaller square screen.
In the resource of my project the screens are designed to fit PPC. When it runs on the Treo the Treo automatically pops up a scroll bar to allow the whole view to be seen.
The issue is when I first go into the app I can't see the top of the screen, about 20 odd pixels heigh aren't displayed. The scroll bar still displays and I can scroll down to the bottom of the view, and when I scroll up again the top of the screen is still out of sight.
If I exit the app just by tapping on the x in the top right corner (so the app is still running, not exiting properly via my Exit button which shuts down the app), I exit the app and then when I go back into the app the screens are displayed correctly, there is no missing space at the top of the screen.
If I exit the app via my exit button and then start the app again, the top of the view is missing again.
Does anyone know why the screen isn't displayed correctly when I first enter the app, or why it should come right when reloading the view again? Has anyone else had problems with screen layout when putting PPC apps on the square Treo 700wx?
Thanks
It sounds like you have a 'refresh' problem. I haven't encountered this my self and it is really hard to diagnose when you don't even tell us what language your app is written in, but basically here is what I think happens:
When your app is launched, part of its window doesn't get properly painted (not sure why exactly).
When you click the X the app isn't closed, but minimized.
When you return to it the window is maximized and repainted. Second repaint goes correctly.
The quick solution to this would be to force a window refresh just after the app is fully started.
Sorry I forgot to add the language.. it's written in eVC++ 3.0
I'll give the refresh a go, thanks
Further Questions..
I thought that minimising and then maximising the screen fixed the problem, but only partially..
Because the screen in resource is designed for regular PPC it is bigger than the Treo 700 screen size, so the OS automatically shows a scroll bar.
The new issue I'm seeing is to do with the scroll bar. The steps I take to reproduce the issue are:
1. Go to View1, and I scroll down the view (I'm using CView not CDialog)
2. Go to View2
3. Go back to View1. When I go back to the first view the scrollbar is scrolled down in the position I left it.
4. Scroll up to top of view and some of the controls in the wrong place. Some controls I dynamically create in OnInitialUpdate, and as part of the Create() I pass in CRect to tell it where to create the control.
If I set CRect.top to say 10, it's created 10 down from the top of the visible screen. The problem is that because I've scrolled the view previously the view draws it 10 down on the visible portion of the view.
I had thought that the easiest solution would be to always reset the scroll bar to the top of the view before creating my controls, but I'm not sure how to force the OS scroll bar to the top of the view. I've tried SetScrollPos(0,0) or ScrollWindow(0, y). ScrollWindow moves the actual view up or down, but the OS scrollbar is still in the same position.
Any ideas on how to set my view window to the top and to reset the scrollbar?
Thanks again
How to refresh a view?
I have sorted the issue mentioned just above, by finding the scroll position and factoring in that when I set the value of CRect area of the controls I need to dynamically draw.
I'm now just left with the first issue, of when I first start up the app the top part of the window and scrollbar are covered by the Title/Taskbar at the top of the screen.
If I close the app via the x button and restart the app, the issue resolves itself. Or if I open up any dlg like the About screen or even display an AfxMessageBox, when I close the dialog the original screen is redrawn correctly, in the correct position and scroll bar fully shown.
I have tried calling RecalcLayout(), RefreshWindow(), UpdateWindow(), Sending WM_SIZE messages and a whole range of things, but I can't seem to get the screen refreshing correctly apart from when I open any dialog and close that dialog.
When you close a dialog what messages get sent to the previous view that force it to redraw? Does anyone have any suggestions how I can force a refresh myself?
Thanks again
Did you try InvalidateRect?
I am getting a bit rusty with MFC, since I now try to do things the hard way and use pure win 32, but this should work.
If you can't use it as a class member, call the API directly using you view GetSafeHwnd() function for window handle). Use NULL for lpRect to redraw the whole window and FALSE for bErase to prevent flickering.
Note that UpdateWindow() only triggers repaint if part of the window becomes invalid (the contents needs redrawing).
No I hadn't thought of using InvalidateRect(), so I should give it a go.
In the end I just wanted the issue fixed so opted for a quick 'n dirty solution of displaying a temp CDialog as soon as the app starts and calling EndDialog() immediately in the OnInitDialog() so the dialog disappears before you see it.
It worked and the original screen gets updated to correct size, layout and scroll bar.
Cheers.

[Q] App to show all the running apps in tray?

Does something like that exist? I would like to see all the running programs as icons in the tray on today screen. So I don't forget something running and eating up my battery.
I know I can press the upper right corner to see these apps and open or close them from there, but I would prefer seeing them in the tray and being able to tap the icon to open the program. Tap and hold to close would be excellent. iGO 8 and palringo, for example, will show up in tray.
So it doesn't exist?
I think not. I was also searching quite a while for something like this and it doesn't seem to exist. I would also think of this as a very practical application for the tray since there is no real task bar in Windows Mobile.
I chose a somewhat compromise - HTC_TRAY allows you to put shortcuts into the tray which are launching apps, but when they are already running, it is also simply bringing them to foreground. Since you need the stylus anyway to tap the tray icons, I just put apps there which I usually control with the stylus. With HTC_TRAY app I also have a battery meter and a rotate icon. In the tray I can also see the currently selected phone profile with PhoneWeaver - that was basically the reason why I didn't want to hide the tray.
sort of Windows (desktop) tray ??
guess not... but would be great
sounds like WKTask to me.
fards said:
sounds like WKTask to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://soft.photoracer.net/docs/wktask_en.html
definitely wktask, it also has a battery bar on top.. and a lot more functions.
its my favorite program for ppc.
Yeah, but wktask uses the upper task bar instead of the tray, right? Since the tray is already there when programs show tray icons and the taskbar already shows information like network, time, sound, start etc., there's not much space for icons left. WkTask using the tray instead of the task bar would be perfect.
why not use the one that is built-in to the unit? go to Windows\TaskManagerApp.exe. you can run the application or stop the selected or stop all running applications.
and if you're going to rely on this app, just assign it to one of the left or right hard keys..
azian_advanced said:
why not use the one that is built-in to the unit? go to Windows\TaskManagerApp.exe. you can run the application or stop the selected or stop all running applications.
and if you're going to rely on this app, just assign it to one of the left or right hard keys..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but it's better to have it in one glance on the today screen which apps are currently running. Especially with the stylus, you could then quickly switch between applications or terminate them from there. Since you have the tray anyway and can't really get rid of it, I think this would be the best application for it - a small icon based task bar. I really like that idea too.
Well, I guess there's no such thing yet. Maybe some smart guy will read this thread and make a small app for this, I'm sure it's not that hard to do.
try truetoolbar
http://www.valksoft.com/TrueToolbar.html
@mgfung - It's more like a launcher and has a ton of unwanted features. All I want is something simple, only to show the running apps in the tray - tap an app to maximize, tap and hold to close or to have some sort of menu in which I can choose "close".
I don't want to use the upper space (taskbar) because it's already cluttered by the system icons (that I want to have there). I also don't like that these taskbar apps will also change the functionality of the X/ok button in the right corner.

[Q] Super Launcher remover ?

Hi All,
I have got this little application "Super Launcher" fixed at the bottom side without knowing where it comes from and it installed alone. It is represented as an arrow directed to th bottom too and when I click on it, a very small window opens at the center top side of the screen.
Anyway, I would say that I tried almost every thing I know to remove it but could not succeed.
I am calling you for help please.
Many thanks
It is a part of Super Manager and it is a question of settings only.
Cheers
If you're referring to: https://market.android.com/details?id=androidcap.superlauncher.lite
Why can't you uninstall it from the app drawer (unless there is no icon) - OR - from tablet settings under applications management?

shortcut to Metro IE

Hi,
I just instapp Win 8 cp on my Dell Latitude XT, and it seems to work pretty well.
A stupid thing I did - I removed the tile in the start screen for the immersive/metro IE, on the assumption that it would be easy to put it back, but I have no idea how to do that... Uninstalling ("turn windows features on/off") and reinstalling IE didn't help.
Any tips... ?
Thanks!
Try putting your mouse in the upper right hand corner of your screen to access the hidden sidebar. Click the search icon to access your total apps list. You should see the IE icon. Right click it to bring up your action bar at the bottom of the screen. You can repin the app to the start menu from there.
Hope that helps!
GL HF
Nope, doesn't show up there. I deleted the tile from the start screen, so then it shouldn't show up there, should it? Accessing searching through applications like this, it isn't different from just typing on the start screen, is it? I have icon there that I created later for the desktop IE, but none for Metro IE (immersive). I do have Firefox as my default browser though, that might complicate things...
Just set IE as default browser and Metro IE will be back.
You can set default program for webpage as the Firefox in "Set Default Program" (by click "Choose defaults for this program" button)
Nope, that didn't work either...

Two Feature Requests URGENT

I am doing a demo for my brothers highschool and need to LOCK DOWN windows 8.
First off I need to completely disable the right charm menu. The menu if you were to swipe left from the right hand side of a monitor.
Then the task bar if you were to swipe from the left hand side of a monitor. The thing is I can use taskkill /im /f whatever.exe to kill the process but the recent app sticks in the menu.
If you dont understand me I can try and explain better.
xboxexpert said:
I am doing a demo for my brothers highschool and need to LOCK DOWN windows 8.
First off I need to completely disable the right charm menu. The menu if you were to swipe left from the right hand side of a monitor.
Then the task bar if you were to swipe from the left hand side of a monitor. The thing is I can use taskkill /im /f whatever.exe to kill the process but the recent app sticks in the menu.
If you dont understand me I can try and explain better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found this one:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/hyperyash/archive/2013/10/25/enable-kiosk-mode-in-windows-8-1.aspx
stevedebi said:
I found this one:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/hyperyash/archive/2013/10/25/enable-kiosk-mode-in-windows-8-1.aspx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried that but you can only allow a Metro APP in kiosk mode I have a 3rd party software that I need to run. It would work great if it were able to launch my 3rd party software and only limit to that specific software.

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